If the debt ceiling isn't raised, the Treasury Department could give Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac payment priority. But without a spending deal, the threat of downgrades would loom.

PrivateBancorp Inc. reported its fourth-straight quarterly profit Tuesday, but weak loan growth and declining revenue have raised questions about whether the Chicago company can maintain the momentum.

BancorpSouth shares jumped sharply a day after the company reported an impressive financial turnaround, reporting earnings of $12.8 million for the second quarter.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Tuesday said it fined SunTrust Banks Inc. $5 million for violations related to the sale of auction-rate securities.

In what would be its first open-bank acquisition in five years, Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., announced Tuesday that it is acquiring Elgin State Bancorp Inc. in Elgin, Ill., for $13.8 million in cash and stock.

Bolstered by improved credit quality and growing demand for Small Business Administration loans, Nara Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles reported its fourth-consecutive quarterly profit in the three months that ended June 30.

Yadkin Valley Bank and Trust Co. in Elkin, N.C., has exited the wholesale mortgage business in order to better focus on retail mortgage lending.

Originations of Federal Housing Administration-backed loans fell 23% during the first three quarters of fiscal 2011 compared to the same period a year earlier, a further sign of a weakening single-family market.

Home prices rose 1% in May compared to April, and 16 of 20 metropolitan areas tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index registered monthly price gains.

Mortgage technology and service provider Lender Processing Services earned $21.4 million in the second quarter, a 73% decline from the same period a year earlier, citing restructuring charges and lower revenue.

Mortgage advertising that misrepresents terms, fees or the costs of loan products can trigger fines and enforcement actions under a final rule adopted by the Federal Trade Commission.

Northwest Bancshares Inc. in Warren, Pa., said this week that its second-quarter earnings were down 7% from the same period last year, to $15 million, due largely to costs related to an employee stock-benefit plan.

Few of the security features designed to prove a credit card's validity in the physical world work well online. Jumio, a startup, aims to change that.

Shares of BancorpSouth Inc. were up sharply early Tuesday after the Tupelo, Miss., company rebounded from a surprisingly weak first quarter to report a second-quarter profit that handily beat analysts' estimates.

Aided by strong loan and deposit growth, Signature Bank in New York reported a record-setting $36.6 million profit in the second quarter, up 64.4% from the same period in 2010.

A large securities gain boosted second quarter earnings at Heartland Financial USA Inc. in Dubuque, Iowa, by 137% from a year earlier, to $8.9 million.

U.S. college and university alumni-affiliated credit cards are losing steam because consumer interest in affinity-based college card programs is fading, new Federal Reserve Board data suggest.

F.N.B. Corp. in Hermitage, Pa., reported that its second quarter earnings rose nearly 25% from a year earlier, to $22.4 million, up nearly 25%, due largely to lower credit costs.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, the middleman in millions of foreclosure filings.

Rumors that ISIS's card network partnerships put Google out of the mobile payments race are grossly exaggerated, Google representatives say.